The law legalizes two kinds of cannabis consumption spaces: “retail cannabis lounges” run by dispensaries and “independent cannabis consumption lounges” run by any other type of business.
Though this law has been championed to boost Las Vegas tourism, hotels won’t be considered for stand-alone consumption lounges due to federal law, and this is unlikely to change for now.
“Consumption lounges are important because they help protect people from prejudicial law enforcement or being fined or sanctioned in a way that causes real harm, that perpetuates the War on Drugs,” cannabis and social equity advocate Noel Gordon told Filter.
In addition to serving on the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee of the National Cannabis Industry Association, Barghouti works as director of Blackbird, a software and operations company servicing the cannabis industry.
With the emerging legal market, more and more people are coming into contact with cannabis in legal ways, complete with brochures curated and distributed by dispensaries and other brands.
Gordon has mixed feelings about how the lounges will be implemented.
State law only permits legally purchased cannabis to be consumed on private property “as long as the property owner has not prohibited it.” Though cannabis tourism can add yet another attraction to the Strip, this technicality prevents tourists from legally consuming cannabis.
As a result, some licenses were adjusted, according to the Nevada Independent, but this hasn’t closed the racial gap of business ownership.
In response to overwhelming inequity, A341 provides reduced license application fees by up to 75 percent for qualifying social equity applicants—that’s anyone “who has been adversely affected by provisions of previous laws which criminalized activity relating to cannabis, including, without limitation, adverse effects on an owner, officer or board member of the applicant or on the geographic area in which the applicant will operate” according to the legislation.
Barghouti, who has worked on social equity programs in Oakland, California and Massachusetts, expressed mixed feelings.
Though it wasn’t passed, an additional bill under consideration would’ve allowed cannabis consumption lounge “micro licenses” for small business owners, which wouldn’t have required nearly as much investment.
Whether the consumption lounges will actually live up to their ideals, Nevadans and their visitors will have to wait until next year before setting foot in one, even though the law goes into effect on October 1.